Thermal analysis of wirelessly powered thermo-pneumatic micropump based on planar LC circuit

Abstract

This paper studies the thermal behavior of a wireless powered micropump operated using thermo-pneumatic actuation. Numerical analysis was performed to investigate the temporal conduction of the planar inductor-capacitor (LC) wireless heater and the heating chamber. The result shows that the temperature at the heating chamber reaches steady state temperature of 46.7°C within 40 seconds. The finding was further verified with experimental works through the fabrication of the planar LC heater (RF sensitive actuator) and micropump device using MEMS fabrication technique. The fabricated device delivers a minimum volume of 0.096 µL at the temperature of 29°C after being thermally activated for 10 s. The volume dispensed from the micropump device can precisely controlled by an increase of the electrical heating power within the cut-off input power of 0.22 W. Beyond the power, the heat transfer to the heating chamber exhibits non-linear behavior. In addition, wireless operation of the fabricated device shows successful release of color dye when the micropump is immersed in DI-water containing dish and excited by tuning the RF power.

Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) for Biomedical Applications

“…This intermittent volume delivers a recurrent impetus for fluid flows, which creates a considerably large induced pressure and a membrane displacement [128,131]. To initiate the transfer of heat from the human body to the micropump, several mechanisms have been implemented, such as body heat-powered or fermentation-powered operations [132,133].…”

Simple Electroosmotic Pump and Active Microfluidics with Asymmetrically Coated Microelectrodes

“…To overcome this limit, many other methods have been developed to manipulate and control the microscale flow, primarily utilizing discontinuous surface stress on an active surface. [15] These methods can be generated by thermal gradient, [16,17] magnetohydrodynamics, [18,19] electrohydrodynamic, [20,21] or by surface modification. [22] In microfluidics, two types of electrophoretic micropumps are commonly used: direct current (DC) electroosmotic pumps and alternating current (AC) electroosmotic pumps.…”

“…To overcome this limit, many other methods have been developed to manipulate and control the microscale flow, primarily utilizing discontinuous surface stress on an active surface. [ 15 ] These methods can be generated by thermal gradient, [ 16,17 ] magnetohydrodynamics, [ 18,19 ] electrohydrodynamic, [ 20,21 ] or by surface modification. [ 22 ]…”

Robotic Arm Control using Internet of Things (IoT)

“…Internet connection has fundamentally changed the arrangements for monitoring and control and the use of open or public standards and personal computer systems (PCs, tablets, smart phones) bring significant benefits to their users and producers [7]. This concept can be further extended to be integrated into various wearable energy harvesting devices [8] and implantable wireless biomedical applications, such as wireless micropumps, micromixers, and microvalves [9][10][11].…”